New Deal Design, one of the world's leading tech design studios, has invented an artificial intelligence-equipped toy to fight the "distraction economy" by developing children's attention spans.

Called Spot, the toy is aimed at learning and discovery. It functions primarily as a handheld scanner that kids can point at an object around them, such as a flower or a bird, to hear it talk back.Using its AI software,Spot recognizes the object and voices a little monologue（独白）from it, processing information to suit children aged five to nine.

There's also a secondary function that comes into play at bedtime, when Spot uses its in-built projecto（r投影仪） to present a story made up around the day's discoveries.

Spot is a concept at this stage, one that grew out of the research New Deal Design conducted into children's development. The designers found that the right kind of toy could encourage focus,as opposed to instant satisfaction. They wanted to cultivate a kind of junior-level mindfulness that would set kids up with positive life skills.

In terms of appearance, Spot has a complicated look, with its 3D camera fixed   in   the   head.   The   models   are   smooth,   including   a   wooden   handle,a button and a base. The choice of materials was inspired by traditional kids' building blocks.

When Spot   recognizes an   object, it blinks   to signal   it has   locked the target. Its head also locks into place to avoid any shaking. As an example, New Deal Design describes a girl called Max, who among other things, encounters a robin while out with the toy. Via Spot, the bird says, "Hi Max, my name is Robin! Did you know ..."

At that night's Story Time, Spot starts "Once upon a time there was a little girl named Max who met a robin. One day, Max asked the robin ..." New Deal Design says that day summaries like this helps kids to relax and get better sleep. Seeing themselves at the centre of stories also helps to build self-confidence and self-awareness.

Two inventors, Simon Jorritsma and Anne Koudstaal, had an unusual idea — what if you recycled plastic and turned it into a road? Now the world’s first plastic bike path has been created to test their idea.

The Netherlands is famous for being bike-friendly, and the city of Zwolle has just gone a little bit further. On September 11, 2018, the city opened a 100-foot bike path made of recycled plastic. The path is not 100% recycled plastic, but the group that created it, PlasticRoad, hopes future paths and roads will be.

Most roads in the world today are made with asphalt — a black mixture that creates a lot of pollution. Asphalt is heavy to move and must be heated when people are making a road. Using asphalt to make roads takes a lot of energy.

The group says their way of making roads is better in many ways than asphalt roads. It creates their road in pieces in a factory, which are light and easy to move around. To make the road, a special truck simply drives along and lays down the pieces. This makes it much faster to make than an asphalt road. Their road will last three times as long as an asphalt road. And if part of it breaks, it is easy to take out the broken part and replace it. The broken part can then be recycled once more and turned into a new piece again. The plastic road is hollow (空心的) below the surface, allowing rainwater to flow away. The hollow area also makes it easy to run pipes under the road.

Many people think this is a creative way to recycle plastic, but some are worried. One of the biggest concerns is what will happen to the bits of plastic that break off as the path is being used. After all, the world is facing a major issue with microplastics. Some people think plastic roads will create more.

When Liam Pope-Lau fell into the ocean during a sailing lesson, he had no idea what he was in for. “I just remember how cold it was,” Liam recalls. “It really scared me and shook me up.” Thankfully, he was wearing a life jacket, but the water was freezing.

Liam’s scary experience inspired him to team up with his friend, Fraser Tuck, in his Grade 6 science class at the time. Together they came up with the idea of “LifeHeat” — a self-heating life jacket that could one day help someone in a similar situation. During the first phase, they concentrated on finding a chemical that creates heat upon contact with water. After a series of investigations, Liam and Fraser came across calcium chloride (氯化钙). It soon became LifeHeat’s primary chemical component, which allowed the life jacket to remain warm underwater.

Over the next two years, Fraser and Liam built 13 prototypes (模型) of LifeHeat. But instead of building multiple life jackets from scratch (从零开始), the two focused on creating an attachable pouch (荷包). When the pouch came in contact with water, it could heat the body’s core. For each prototype, Liam and Fraser experimented with different materials that could contain calcium chloride while still allowing its heat to escape. In the process, they experienced countless failures which, however, led them to be more creative.

The two have entered their many prototypes into several science competitions over the last two years. In November last year, Liam and Fraser won two awards at a big science fair. They are now taking the feedback they received from experts and applying it to their next prototype. Liam and Fraser anticipate turning their invention into a business.

As for future inventors, Fraser and Liam have advice for kids who want to create their own new technology. “Don’t be afraid to try it out because you never know where it could end up,” said Liam. “Go for it before someone else can steal your idea,” added Fraser with a laugh.